This invention pertains to a stand for an elongate, upright object such as a tree, and more particularly to such a stand which utilizes a wedge to clamp the tree tightly in a holding position, and has a fluid barrier removably mounted therein for preventing fluid held within the container from contacting the base, or butt, end of the object if desired.
In the past, various devices for supporting objects such as trees have been devised, but they have not been altogether satisfactory. Although wedge-type clamping devices may have been used, they have not provided the desired adjustability to accommodate trees having a curve in that portion of the trunk below the wedge which is held by restraining means below the wedge. Explaining further, with previous devices, when a tree has been inserted therein and then clamped into position by a sliding wedge, there has been no means for taking care of the curvature of the tree to insure that the portion of the tree above the wedge will stand upright. With no selective adjustment of engaging members in such devices, the tree must either be left at an incline or removed and reset several times to achieve the desired upright position for the tree.
It has been found also that while a fluid ballast, such as water, in the base is desirable for holding a tree, or like object, in an upright position, it is not always desirable to have the fluid within the base in contact with the tree. While it is desirable to provide water for the tree while in warm or temperate climates the opposite may be true in subfreezing areas. If the tree is supported out of doors, as on a tree lot in subfreezing weather, the fluid within the base used for ballast which comes into contact with the tree may freeze the tree into the base and thus prevents its removal from the base. This would be a decided disadvantage to operation of tree lots in such areas.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a novel stand which overcomes the disadvantages of previously designed stands as set out above in a simple and economic manner.
More specifically, an object of the invention is to provide a novel stand for an upright, elongate object, such as a tree, wherein the stand includes restraining means in the base for holding the butt end of the object against lateral movement, adjustable engaging means spaced above the butt of the tree selectively adjustable to engage side portions of the tree, and a sliding serrated wedge mounted opposite the engaging means for shifting movement between an engaging position frictionally wedging the tree against the engaging members and a release position permitting removal of the tree.
Yet another object is to provide such a novel stand wherein the base includes a fluid-holding receptacle for receiving the base, or butt, end of the object and further includes a fluidtight barrier surrounding the butt end of the object to prevent fluid held in the receptacle from contacting the object.
A still further object of the invention is to provide such a barrier which is removably mounted in the receptacle permitting use of the barrier to prevent fluid contact or removal of the barrier to permit fluid contact when desired.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide such a novel stand having a cover in which a support for the sliding wedge projects upwardly from the top of the cover and wherein the cover includes an opening of sufficient size to receive such a support to permit nested stacking of a plurality of such covers, with the support on one of the covers extending through the described opening in another cover.